Improvement in turbine water-wheels



NITED States arent trice.

SETEI W ALEN, OF BALSTON SPA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND IIANNAH IHALEN, OF BURN'I HILLS, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN TURBINE WATER-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 10,59S6, dated December 15, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SETH WHALEN, of Balston Spa, in the county of Saratoga and State of New York, have invented, made, and applied to use a certain new and useful Improvement in Turbine VaterWheels 5 and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the said improvement, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, wherein- Figure l is a vertical section of my wheel. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the same, and Fig. 3 is a plan of the cap or stop water77 to the wheel.

Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.

Turbine water-wheels have heretofore been constructed with an inclosing case and a central discharge, and also with alternate chutes and water-cushions, as in the patent of D. M. Cummings, December 2, 1862.

The nature of mysaid invention consists in a peculiarly-shaped bucket, applied to the wheel, having a center discharge,in combination witha surrounding guidewheel,provided with chutes and with a cap or stopAwater, extending from guide-wheel to shaft, whereby I am enabled to get a larger amount of power from a given supply of water than heretofore, in consequence of the buckets receiving the impact of the reacting water near the periphery of the wheel, at the same time that 1eak age around the wheel is prevented and the pressure of the water on the wheel relieved.

In the drawings, a is the supply-pipe; b, the cistern or press-head, formed with the bottom d and top c, and from the bottom d the suction-pipe c extends to the lower level of the fiume. This wheel may be placed at any convenient point relatively to the head of water, as the pipes and cistern cause a solid column of water to pass through the wheel from the higher to the lower level and exert its force on the wheel to propel it.

fis a valve, that may be placed in the tube or pipe e to close or partially close the same and thereby regulate the speed of the wheel. gis what I term the guide-wheel.77 This is composed of tapering chutes l, set diagonally to the radial line, and there should be the same number of these chutes l as there are buckets 2 in the wheel c-that is, within this guidewh'eel g. The wheel k is on a vertical shaft, h, centered in the step z' and passing up through the head c. The top of the wheel lc is closed and the bottom formed with arms 3 3 to the shaft h, leaving a central discharge over the pipe e. Each bucket 2 is formed as shown in Fig. 2, and starts from the periphery nearly on the radial line, and curves around io the diagonal and nearly straight portion that comes toward the center of the wheel. The action of the water as the same runs through the chutes l is, first, against the bucket near the periphery, whence the water is deflected inward and reacts to propel the wheel k in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2, and in consequence of the water acting and reacting against the buckets near the periphery of the wheel the effectiveness of the wheel is increased.

In order to regulate the amount of water supplied, and consequently the power of the wheel, I close the chutes l more or less by a vertical acting gate or gates, closing down from above over the end of said chutes. I have shown the ring o surrounding the guidewheel g as the means for effecting this object. Said ring-gate is to be raised or lowered by suitable means. I have shown rods p and nuts g for this purpose, and it will be evident that this ringgatc might, if preferred, be made in sections adapted to one or more ot' the chutes.

Almost all turbinewheels leak considerable water at the joint between the wheel and guide-wheel or case. I prevent this by the use of a cap, Z, bolted at 4 to the top of the guide-wheel or case and rising in a conical or dome form to the box m, in which are Vertical openings or mortises, to receive the followerblocks a and keys or wedges 5, that surround and set tightly to the shaft It. These followerblocks a should be of wood boiled in tallo-w, so as not to be aected by the water, and the shaft h should be turned true at the point where they come in contact withit. A washer of leather, as at 6, should be applied above and below the box m and followers In. The

action of this cap or stop-water is that there will not be any leakage between the wheel lc and guide-wheel or case g, and the pressure and weight of water is partially removed from 2 f 4o Veee the Wheel, so that the step will not Wear out 2. The follower-blocks n and keys or Wedges so quickly. 5, in combination with the stop-water or cap What I claim, and desire to secure by Letl, for the purposes and as specified. ters Patent, is- In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my l. The guide-Wheel g, with the chutes 1l, and si r ature this 20th day of April, 1863 central disohargewheel, k, with the buckets 2 2, substantially as specifiedj in combination SETH WHALEN' with the stop-water or cap l, extending from lVitnesses: the guide-wheel g to the shaft h, as and for the WM. T. ODELL,

purposes specified. I. B. MCLEAN. 

